Jack Hawksworth has been handed the chance to demonstrate his skills at the highest level of open-wheel competition in the United States.

The talented young Culling-worth driver is to make his test bow in the IZOD IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLL), and believes this is the perfect opportunity to stake his claim to a step up to the stateside single-seater pinnacle next year.

Cullingworth dominated the Star Mazda Championship at his first attempt during the course of a record-breaking rookie campaign in America last year.

Now he is doing battle for a second title in as many seasons while competing for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports one rung further up the ladder in Firestone Indy Lights.

With two races remaining in the fiercely-contested series, the 22-year-old McLaren Autosport Award finalist and British Racing Drivers’ Club SuperStar sits fourth in the standings with three victories to his name.

But his more immediate attentions are now turned towards Sebring International Raceway in Florida next Tuesday, when he will clamber into the cockpit of a fully-fledged 650bhp IndyCar for the first time.

“I can’t wait to get behind the wheel of an IndyCar!” said Hawks-worth, who carries scholarship funding from the Mazda Road to Indy, as well as backing from Sparco USA, Exa Networks, Core Pilates, Arai Helmets and Nicholas Jones.

“I have been working towards this moment since the day I first jumped into a go-kart many years ago, and I feel ready to use all those years of experience now at the highest level.

“Thank you to my management team, my supporters, Honda, Fire-stone and RLL for handing me this great opportunity.

“Looking further ahead to 2014, I would obviously love to be in an IndyCar seat and, if that happens, my aims will be the same as they have always been – to maximise my potential and that of the team and score as many points as possible.

“My goal isn’t simply to compete in IndyCar, it is to ultimately win IndyCar races and championships – and I know without any doubt that I can.”

That conviction is shared by RLL co-owner Bobby Rahal, whose eponymously-named outfit has, since its foundation in 1992, clinched 20 IndyCar race wins, prevailed in the iconic Indianap-olis 500 and lifted the outright championship laurels.

British drivers have established a strong history of success across the Atlantic – think 1993 CART king Nigel Mansell, quadruple IndyCar champion and three-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti and the late Dan Wheldon.

And having tracked Hawks-worth’s progress up to this point, Rahal is confident that the highly-rated youngster is the real deal and has what it takes to triumph at the very peak of the sport.

“We are pleased to work with Jack on his first test in an IndyCar and happy that he came to RLL for this monumental experience,” said the three-time IndyCar champion and 1986 Indy 500 winner, whose partners at RLL are Mi-Jack co-owner Mike Lanigan and legendary CBS Late Show host David Letterman.

“We have watched Jack from afar in Indy Lights. He is obviously a proven winner there and there is no reason to think that he couldn’t be competitive in IndyCar and be a future winner there as well.

“We are anxious to put Jack in the car at Sebring and see how he does.”